In a known manner, aircraft cockpits are equipped with communication systems using text messages, commonly referred to as “Controller to Pilot DataLink Communication” systems or CPDLC. Such a communication system is used to supplement or replace traditional voice communication means used between the aircraft and an outside assembly.
This type of communication system in particular comprises a user interface made up of a screen for displaying incoming and outgoing text messages, and buttons making it possible to display more details about the contents of a text message on the screen.
The text messages are displayed on the screen of the communication system while being placed one after the other, in chronological transmission/reception order.
The text messages are frequently used to send operating information of the aircraft, such as requests for altitude or heading changes by the aircraft or authorizations given by the control center to make that change.
Furthermore, some incoming messages are transmitted while being accompanied by actions to be performed following from the evolution instructions emitted by the outside assembly, and having to be carried out by the crew of the aircraft.
An action to be performed is for example sending a performance report indicating that a heading or altitude has been left and/or sending an execution report indicating that a heading or altitude has been reached.
Such actions to be performed benefit from an execution status determined based on the nature of the action to be performed, for example “report remaining to be transmitted manually”, “report that will be transmitted automatically”, and which may evolve over time, in particular when the action to be performed has ultimately been executed.
The crew of the aircraft must precisely and unambiguously know what the execution status associated with an action to be performed is at all times, so as to ensure that the actions to be performed are being performed correctly. Knowing the execution status of an action to be performed contributes to the crew having an accurate overall awareness of the chain of actions to be performed.
To that end, the execution statuses associated with an action to be performed are automatically determined by the text message reception and transmission unit. These statuses are sometimes displayed in a secondary window specific to each text message, which can be activated from the synthesis window using the selection buttons of the man/machine interface.